Many people doubtless know that upon the accession of a new monarch to the throne of England a new Seal is struck, and the old one is cut into four pieces and deposited in the Tower of London. In former times the fragments of these great Seals were distributed among certain poor people of religious houses. When her Majesty Queen Victoria ascended the throne of England, the late Benjamin Wyon, R.A., the chief engraver of her Majesty's Mint, designed the beautiful work of the present Great Seal of England. The details of the design are: obverse, an equestrian figure of the Queen attended by a page, her Majesty wearing over a habit a flowing and sumptuous robe, and a collar of the Order of the Garter. In her right hand she bears the sceptre, and on her head is placed a regal tiara. The attendant page, with his bonnet in his hand, looks up to the Queen, who is gracefully restraining the impatient charger, which is richly decorated with plumes and trappings. The legend "Victoria Dei Gratia Britainniarum Regina, Fidei Defensor," is engraved in Gothic letters, the spaces between the words being filled with heraldic roses. The reverse side of the Seal shows the Queen, royally robed and crowned, holding in her right hand the sceptre, and in her left the orb, seated upon a throne beneath a niched Gothic canopy; on each side is a figure of Justice and Religion; and in the exergue the royal arms and crown, the whole encircled by a wreath or border of oak and roses.
The Seal itself is a silver mould in two parts, technically called a pair of dies. When an impression is to be taken or cast, the parts are closed to receive the melted wax, which is poured through an opening at the top of the Seal. As each impression is attached to a document by a ribbon or slip of parchment, its ends are put into the Seal before the wax is poured in, so that when the hard impression is taken from the dies the ribbon or parchment is neatly affixed to it. The impression of the Seal is six inches in diameter and three-fourths of an inch in thickness. The Great Seals of England are interesting from their bearing portraits of the sovereigns, as in the Seals of Offa and Ethelwolf, and that of Edgar with a bust in profile. After William I. all the Kings are on one side on horseback, the face turned to the right, except that of Charles I., which is turned to the left. Edward IV. first carries the close crown; Edward the Confessor and Henry I. and Henry II. are seated with the sword and dove. Wax was not uniformly used for Seals, as impressions occur in gold, silver, and lead, also in various other substances. The colors have varied, but red appears to have been the most ancient.
[THE VOYAGE OF THE "RATTLETRAP."]
BY HAYDEN CARRUTH.
VI.
Besides the cactus, another form of vegetation which began to attract more and more of Ollie's attention was the red tumbleweed. Indeed, Jack and I found ourselves interested in it also. The ordinary tumbleweed, green when growing, and gray when tumbling, had long been familiar to us, but the red variety was new. The old kind which we knew seldom grew more than two feet in diameter; it was usually almost exactly round, and with its finely branched limbs, was almost as solid as a big sponge, and when its short stem broke off at the top of the ground in the fall it would go bounding away across the prairie for miles. The red sort seemed to be much the same, except for its color and size. We saw many six or seven feet, perhaps more, in diameter, though they were rather flat, and not probably over three or four feet high.
The first one we saw was on edge, and going at a great rate across the prairie, bounding high into the air, and acting as if it had quite gone crazy, as there was a strong wind blowing.
"Look at that overgrown red tumbleweed!" exclaimed Jack. "I never saw anything like that before. Jump on the pony, Ollie, and catch the varmint and bring it back here!"
